City of Athens and Hotels Association attend World Travel Market 2009

The joint presence of the Athens Tourism and Economic Development Company and the Athens-Attica Hotels Association was deemed a great success at the 30th International World Travel Market Show, which took place 8-12 November in London.<1--break-->

As part of the City of Athens' strategy to promote the city internationally and to develop partnerships with tourism organisations, ATEDCo and Athens-Attica Hotels Association shared a booth at WTM 2009, as joint exhibitors of the Greek National Tourism Organisation, thus promoting the city's tourism product along with its hotel infrastructure.

The Athens booth was visited by crowds of professionals from Britain and other countries from various tourism sectors, including cultural tourism, City Breaks, conference and company meetings, incentives and student and educational tourism, to name a few. Many visited the booth during the two days of the show which were open to the public.

The ATEDCo/ Athens-Attica Hotels Association booth was also visited by Deputy Minister of Culture and Tourism Angela Gerekou, who described the efforts being made by both organisations to promote Athens in international markets as particularly worthwhile and praised the initiative to appear jointly at WTM 2009.

ATEDCo representatives took part in a presentation held during the show on the topic "The New Acropolis Museum and the City of Athens," which was attended by more than 50 foreign journalists, travel agents and tourism executives. The presentation was staged by the GNTO branch in Great Britain. The main speakers were academic William Sinclair and Times journalist Christine Borg, two of the most avid supporters of the drive to return the Parthenon marbles to Greece.

ATEDCo also took part in a workshop held by GNTO Great Britain at WTM 2009 on the topic "Greece and the UK market's trends within the framework of the current financial crisis."

In addition, Athens-Attica Hotels Association President Giannis Retsos took part as a presenter in the 1st International Conference "Greek Tourism & Property," which was staged by Real Events in parallel to WTM 2009. Among other things, Retsos referred in general to the tourism product and Athens' infrastructure, placing particular emphasis on the great potential that exists but remains unexploited. As an example, he mentioned the cruise sector, where cabotage (exclusionary practices) creates grave problems, and the lingering issue of the lack of a large conference centre of international standards.

Retsos also referred to the significant tourism benefits that Barcelona reaped after the Olympics, in comparison to the benefits Athens realised after 2004. As he said, in 1980 there were 8.9 million overnight stays in Athens Hotels, in 2005, there were 3.5 million and in 2008, 4 million. In Barcelona in 1990, there were 3.8 million overnight stays. The Olympics were held in 1992, and in 2000, overnight stays had reached 7.8 million.

Finally, he stressed the need for substantive support from the state in conducting systematic and targeted marketing of Athens and praised the efforts being made by the City of Athens through ATEDCo as being "serious and noteworthy." He added that the cooperation that has developed with Athens-Attica Hotels Association is particularly constructive in this direction.

For more information:
Caliope Andriopoulou               Loukas Douvas
Τel: 210 3253123                   Τel: 210 3235485
Fax: 210 3216653                   Fax: 210 3310810
kandriopoulou@atedco.gr         director@all-athenshotels.com